I will not quit! The countdown begins!

Friday I was in too much pain to train - combination of whatever is going on with my back/hip/leg and doms from the small bit of training on the Thursday left me feeling like my right leg from hip to knee was clamped in a vice - just felt like constant pressure - so I was sensible and didn't train .... weekend saw a lack of training - Saturday was pretty much looking after my daughter and keeping her entertained while playing taxi for the Mrs as her car is out of action temporarily and getting one of the dogs to the vets as she has an allergic reaction to something causing a skin complaint. Sunday I spent about 5 hours doing "yard work" power washing the dogs area outside and scrubbing and cleaning there shed as the allergic reaction is apparently "environmental" - I was in bits by the end and wasn't sure if I would be getting out of bed this morning - I did - and although in pain/discomfort it's not as bad as feared. So I just checked my logbook for concept2 and I am currently on 19,877,948m - so 122,052m from 20 million lifetime meters and a lovely concept2 free bag (concept2 run an amazing incentive - see here for more details on the Million Meter Club) - even if I have to go one legged and grip the bloody handle with my teeth I am hitting that target - the countdown begins!

122,052m to go!

KB in the AM - Erg in the PM

So got the new kettlebell yesterday in work - will probably leave it here in work and just use it when I have a 15 minutes spare in the mornings for a quick burst - made sure I stretched and warmed up and then each exercise was taken very carefully - firstly without weight then with a 10lb weight disk and then with the kettelbell - any signs of discomfort and I would have aborted.

The session went (once the kettlebell was introduced)
Goblet squats 3 by 10
Swings 3 by 10
Snatch 3 by 5 each side

Videos below are the last set - comortable with all but the Snatch which will take some getting used to

Squats

Youtube link here - Goblet Squats

Swings

YouTube Iink here - Swings

Snatch 

YouTube Iink here - Snatch

Lets see how observant you are - watch the three videos and see if anything odd happens (apart from my form)

So then at lunch time I just went down for a 40r20 70% again making sure everything was smooth and easy on the back - stopped just after 10 minutes for about 20 seconds just to sort out the C-Breeze - it was getting very hot and sweaty and the C-Breeze wasn't pointed at me. Job done and I'm still moving :o)

Broken but not destroyed

After the 100m session on Monday I had problems with my lower back. Tuesday more problems and no training then on the way home I went into the GP to see what was going on - drugs and rest ordered. 

Wednesday 8th July morning - Broken - had to get ambulance as back completely locked up and was not able to stand after sitting on the sofa even sitting I was in huge amounts of pain - took on board a lot of gas and air to get upright and then more to get from the ambulance stretcher to hospital trolley. Faced with lying on a trolley and getting more drugs or going home on lots of drugs after diagnose that my back was in spasm I chose to go home - that took a lot of time to stumble a small distance on crutches - after getting home my wife told me the nurse had said she was concerned at the amount of pain I was still in as they had given me enough drugs to kill most sensations!

Tuesday July 14th 

Still not able to walk very well - bending over to the ground is still very painful and often not possible (pain is now in right hip and lower back and travels down right quad) but erging doesn't seem to cause a issue so went up to the shed and on the model B knocked out a 30r20 with about 80% HRR. Garmin 910xt would not turn on!!

 And then I thought about some weights - again the moving about between sets caused more of a problem than moving the weights 

10 by 50kg (2by15kg plus 20kg bar) bench free weights x 3

10 by 30kg (2by10kg plus 10kg bar) EZ barbell curl x 3

8 by 60kg (2by15kg 2by5kg plus 20kg bar) bench free weights x 3

8 by 35kg (2by10kg 2by2.5kg plus 10kg bar) EZ barbell curl x 3

5 by 70kg (2by20kg 2by5kg plus 20kg bar) bench free weights x 3

5 by 40kg (2by10kg 2by5kg plus 10kg bar) EZ barbell curl x 3

Wednesday 15th July

Back in Work today and early enough to set a 60 minute row up - but after 30 minute I'd more sweat rolling of me than Niagara falls has water plus  the HR wasn't playing ball so stopped just after 30 minutes. Ended up at 30r20 80% HRR

 At lunchtime today I set another 30r20 up and kept to the 70% HRR as depressing as that was ... also got the Garmin 910xt working again - although I now can't turn it off!!

100m stuff

Training in work this work so short for time at lunch - went for a 2k warm up and then some 100m tests using deadlifts in the time between (just 135lb).

Happy enough and seem to have got on well enough. Well till I tweaked by back a little oops - should be fine though - so just checking and PB for 100m seems to be 14.3 seconds (1:11.5) from 1st April 2013 little to go then. Got robbed when I loaded it up to logbook - 14.9 instead of 14.8!

1 minute test (PB) - 100 metre test (x2)

Kind of prep work for the 500m on the 29th August - wanted to try the 1 minute TT and I'll be lying if I said I thought I did well on this - really thought I would break 400m - not sure why lol but went down with the intention of a fast first 100m and hold on - but for some reason I didn't get the start right (1:52 first split 1:23 second) and then just couldn't get under 1:16 pace (that I remember) but managed to sit on 1:16/1:17 for the majority of the piece. Had a few issues losing my seating which I think you can see in the video. Once finished I looked at the monitor and was pretty disappointed but at the same time this is a PB by 1m (although not sure I've ever done an all-out 1 minute test - think the 1min PB I had was "extracted" from my 500m) at the same time I was sitting pretty comfortably on 1:16/17 so I think with some work we can break that 1:18 barrier - especially if I have a audience :o)

Drag 170

After the 1 minute I thought I would test the 100m - a better start hitting 1:40's on the first stroke but still too slow and lost too much - things to work on though

CTC recon

Travelled home to yorkshire with the daughter on Sunday for a family funeral - my Great Aunt - she was 93 bless her - although failing health over the last ten years I remember her as the wonderfully warm loving lady from my childhood who always had a cup of tea and cake for your visit at the least - often a full roast dinner with all the trimmings being a farmers wife :o)

So returned last night and bed gone midnight so bit tired today and only a lunchtime training availble - decided to have a sab at the CTC and see how it went.

Row 500m with 1 min rest
Row 400m with 1 min rest
Row 300m with 1 min rest
Row 200m with 1 min rest
Row 100m with 2 mins rest
then finish with 2000m

Unfortunetly I was running low on time and high on sweat with a meeting due at 1:30 I needed to stop at 1:15 so with the first 5 pieces rowed I knew I wasn't going to get the 2k done and have a shower and be in the meeting - so i took a screen shot - then decided I would row just to see how it was feeling - although I was averaging 1:36 when I stopped with the dealy in stopping the monitor it got slightly higher - pretty sure I could hold 1:37 if not better for that so have myself a target.

12by100m 1r

Got this session of Ross "THE BEAST" Love yesterday as I aim to improve my 500m PB (1:18.0) the session he gave was 12 x 100m 1r and Pace wise they are done at 500m pace. I asked about static or rolling starts and he suggested "I would suggest not starting at a dead stop on the 12 x 100... just to much torque on your back."

So - after a 5k warm up drag set to 170 and the video set to record off we went - lost seating on the 6th rep I think and a couple of reps I went more arms then legs just to see what it felt like. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

1:11.9 seems to have been my strongest stroke 941 watts